Proximity services (ProSe) may support Device-to-Device (D2D) communication in a cellular technology ecosystem. ProSe may rely on the proximity between two or more electronic devices, (for example, User Equipment (UEs) or Mobile Stations (MSs)), and allow specific commercial and social applications, network offloading, or public safety direct communications. Other alternatives, such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, may also support D2D communication, but they may operate on a license-exempt band (unlicensed spectrum), and thus they may be subject to higher interference and lower quality of service (QoS). ProSe may use D2D discovery and various communication procedures to address these issues.
Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is currently focusing on a UE's ability to discover other UEs in its vicinity by using direct UE-to-UE signaling with E-UTRA. Further, the 3GPP is considering procedure for discovery, signaling between involved UEs, criteria to determine proximity, support of discovery of UEs subscribed to different operators and direct user plane packets communication. The D2D communication enables an electronic device to directly discover, communicate and exchange data with a neighboring electronic device without the help of a cellular network, and each electronic device for the D2D communication broadcasts the electronic devices own information in order to inform other electronic devices of information on itself. In case of open discovery, there is no explicit permission that is needed from the UE being discovered and restricted discovery needs an explicit permission from the UE that is being discovered. There are two possible D2D discovery enablers: direct communication and standalone services. When the UE receives a discovery message (a direct communication message), there is need for authenticity verification of the direct communication message. The authenticity verification of the direct communication message is needed so as to confirm the information provided in the direct communication message is from an authenticated UE.
Further, it is necessary to ensure that no malicious UE is impersonating the actions of another genuine UE. Authenticity verification is recommended for both open and restricted discovery. For standalone service case, the authentic verification to be completed without any further message exchange with the UE to be discovered. For direct communication, it is possible to verify the authenticity, by running authentication procedure as subsequent messages exchanges are possible.